Balendra Shah AKA Balen
Who is Balen?
Balen is the incumbent Prime Minister of Nepal from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which possess the election symbol of Bell (Ghanti). After he crushed KP Sharma Oli, the-then Prime Minister of Nepal during GenZ Movement of September 8 and 9, with a whooping vote difference of nearly 50,000 in the national election Held on 5th March 2026, he was enthroned to the post of prime minister on 27th March 2026 at the age of 36. He was 'independent' mayoral candidate for the year 2022 of Kathmandu metropolis in the local level election. He became the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) defeating Keshab Sthapit (from Communist Party Nepal - CPN UML) and Srijana Singh (Nepali Congress Party) by a huge difference. He was the rapper and is a well-known civil engineer with a M. Tech degree in Structural Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU). He is now engaged in PhD degree in Kathmandu University in Civil Engineering and has also been awarded "KU Researcher's Fellowship" for his study entitled "Conservation of Newa heritage structures to promote tourism and economy."
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| Balen Shah with his election sign - LAURO in 2022 local election |
Detailed Biography of Balen
Citizenship Name:
Balendra Shah
Fame (Rap Stage) Name:
Balen, winner of Raw Barz Season II
Profession: Rapper, Engineer,
Mayoral Candidate for Kathmandu Metropolis- 2022
Instagram Handle:
@balenshah
Contact Number: +977
986-1768896
Email: [email protected]
Father's Name: Dr. Ram
Narayan Sah (Ayurvedic Doctor)
Mother's Name: Dhruva Devi Sah
Grandfather's Name: Munnilal Sah
Balen's Date of Birth in AD: 27
April 1990
Date of Birth in BS:
2047 Baisakh 14
Age: 36 years (as of
2026)
Birth place: Nardevi, Kathmandu
Current residence:
Gairigaun, Sinamangal (KTM)
Marital Status: Married
Spouse Name: Sabina
Kafle from Morang
Offspring: One baby girl (one of the twins)
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| Balen Shah with his wife Sabina Kafle |
Monthly income of Balen is estimated to be around NPR 90k to 110k.
Educational Background:
Primary School:
Alliance Academy, Kathmandu
High School (SLC + 12
class) : VS Niketan College, Tinkune
Bachelor: White House
Institute of Science and Technology, KTM
Master: Visvesvaraya Technological
University (VTU)
Interesting Facts about Balen
- He believes in Astrology (Jyotish Bigyan). He casted vote just on time at 11:03 am as suggested by an astrologer for good omen. His belief in Astrology was further illustrated when he took the oath for the post of Prime Minister of Federal Republic of Nepal on 27th March 2026 right at 12:34 (Note the consecutive numerals of timing).
- His favorite artists are Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya
- His best litterateur (sahityakar) is Laxmi Prasad Devkota
- He very much likes to be called a Poet than a rapper
- His electoral sign (chunab chinha) for the local election 2022 was Cane (lauro) which was ironically said that the cane was for treating and thrashing the corrupt. His election sign for federal election of 2026 was Bell (for making alarms to the corrupt).
- He has never given a public interview in any media since he rose to the power. His way of communication is only through the Facebook status and comments, and through YouTube songs. In the threshold of 2026 federal election, he even made his TikTok account.
Current Fame
The
fame of Balen Shah first comes from the music background that he was involved
in for almost a decade. He has altogether more than 25 songs released in the musical market. His first song was, "Sadak Balak." He is particularly known
for his rap from the RawBarz rap battle. He is the lyricist, music director and
composer. Even though he is the owner and managing director of Balen Consulting
and Construction Pvt. Ltd (since August 2017), many people don't know that his educational background is
engineering. He studied Bachelor of Engineering (BE-CIVIL) from the White House
Institute of Science and Technology. Later on, he pursued his studies to
complete M. Tech in Civil - Structural Engineering from one of the South Indian
college belonging to Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Karnataka.
However, he seem to cash his musical fame into the political career by signing
on the candidacy for the mayor of Kathmandu on the local election of 13 May
2022. He was doing PhD from KU when he gave the nomination for the post of MP from the electoral area Jhapa-5.
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| Falgun 2074 BS: Marriage Ceremony of Balendra Shah |
Balen
has two mothers and they live separately (one in Naradevi and one with him in
Sinamangal). He has also worked as the deputy GM of Padma Group of Companies,
and has served as the water resources advisor to the president Vidya Devi Bhandari for 3 months.
He worked in the construction of settlements in Kavre (Pachkhal), Nagarjun and
Nuwakot after the massive earthquake of 2015 AD from ASF Nepal. More, he also worked as an engineer in Platinum Developers Pvt Ltd which he left in June 2018. He also worked in the position of 'Transportation Engineer' in Bajra Guru Constructions in 2015.
Background of the Balen Candidacy in the Federal Election - 2026
As Balen won the mayoral position of Kathmandu Metropolis, he faced many political obstacles from representatives mainly from CPN-UML, majority of the representatives being from CPN UML - Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol included - and NCP. Many a time Balen had a symbolic melee against KP Sharma Oli via Facebook status. Around 80 individuals were dead in the September GenZ movement, which caused the current coalition government of two largest parties - which was then being headed by KP Sharma Oli as PM - toppled. The repercussions of the first day shooting and murder led to the second day bonfire across the nation when major governmental buildings and assets were conflagrated and severely vandalized. There was a sense of political vacuum as the GenZ movement - purported for eradication of corruption and further fired by 'Nepokids' trend - lacked a clear leader. It was Balen whose Facebook status was directing the aimless protestors as what should be done the next. Word by word as per Balen's Facebook status directives, the nation took lead to the abolition of current parliament. After a discord meeting finalized Sushila Karki, the former Chief Justice, as the interim prime minister. Under the mediation of Army Chief Ashok Raj Sigdel, the deal was completed with the president Ram Chandra Poudel to make Sushila Karki the new prime minister.
Honorable Sushila Karki announced the election in the six month of her taking oath as the PM. KP Oli filed his nomination from his home district Jhapa. KP Oli fought the election from Jhapa eight times, till date. He won 6 times and lost two times. One in the year 2008 when he lost to Maoist candidate Bishwadeep Lingden and another in the year 2026 when he lost to Balendra Shah, RSP senior leader. Even though Balen's birthplace is in Mahottari and his residence is in Kathmandu, he filed his candidacy from Jhapa - 5 to defeat KP Sharma Oli, a long time stubborn leader in the Nepal's political atmosphere. "Ab ki baar, Balen Sarkar" was the political hit clip during the election campaign all across Nepal. Nepal assumes the party system in voting, nevertheless, RSP showed the face of Balen - more like the direct Prime Minister election - as the future PM if RSP got majority. Eventually the Bell Party (RSP) got 182 seats out of 275 seats of Federal Parliament.
Positive Aspects of Balen for Mayoral Race- 2022
There were 50+ candidates for the mayoral position in Kathmandu in the 2022 local election time, namely
Keshab Sthapit, Srijana Singh, Samikshya Devkota, Suman Sayami, etc,. There were
few things about him that made him stand out from the crowd of those
candidates:
· Never has a non-political candidate got so much
media attention and social media craze. In the previous election, there was
Ranju Darshana who was given a good coverage by the mainstream media too but
she was not an independent candidate, rather was from Bibeksheel Sajha party.
Now Balen is running independently.
· He is a youth iconic leader who has a tremendous
support group hailing not only from his musical kingdom but also from the young
engineers. This dedicated support group is fueling his movement and is
unwavering.
· He never criticizes his opponents. We can see that candidates
are constantly scolding, unfairly rebuking, demoralizing and defaming the
opponents in Nepalese politics, even Keshab Sthapit and Sunita Dangol has
publicly derogated Balen Shah repeatedly. He does not comply with this trend of
politics. He always praises his counterparts and tags his deprecator as his own
brand ambassadors. When you don't have great ideas and you seem to criticize
others to make yourself great. But Balen is an exception.
· Another good thing about him is that he has a clear
vision on what he would do if elected. Unlike other candidate he never speaks
on whim and is never driven by emotions. For example, he speaks about health,
garbage management, education, safe urbanization, traffic management, infrastructure
development, cultural preservation, etc,. He always speaks what he knows and
what he plans to do on these areas. In different interviews and appearances, he
says the same thing time and again. If he has the plan, then it always have to
be the same and he perfectly maintains that. Look at the other candidates: they
speak what the crowd wants to hear and how loud they will clap. They don't have
firm any ideas so they just drift around many ideas i.e. sometimes they tell
one thing some other time another thing.
· He has a panache. He wears similar looking attire with
a pair of dark goggles. The goggles are now sold in the market with a tag of
'balen sunglass.' When he marches out in the streets, he never asks for the
vote. He smiles, greet with Namaste, sometimes takes selfie and moves ahead. It
is not annoying for people when a lot of candidates come and just asks for the
votes and all.
Voters Divided
Votes of Kathmandu seem to be divided, especially neutral votes would channel, presumably, to Keshav Sthapit, Balen Shah, Srijana Singh, Suman Sayami and Samikshya Devkota in various ways.
Keshab Sthapit
Mr
Sthapit was the mayor of Kathmandu in 2054 BS too i.e. almost 25 years back. He
is widely criticized for his move to extend the width of the road by
dismantling the houses of Kathmandu. This might largely impact the votes, especially
of those who were the real victim. Nonetheless, the CPN UML party supporters
will blindly cast him the votes. One thing highly positive about him is his
energy even if he is already 60. He sometimes has crazy ideas but at times he
also comes up with a few beautiful ideas. He is known for his alacrity to bring
about the changes. He is also one of the few advocates of legalization of
marijuana in Nepal. One thing highly negative about him is that he was red-flagged
by #MeToo movement where he was allegedly name a sexual predator. This news has
also surfaced around this time tarnishing his image.
Srijana Singh
Srijana
Singh comes out of the kitchen all of the sudden underlining the legacy of late
Ganesh Man Singh. She has dodged a lot of public debates with her opponent
candidates. This shows a lack of clear vision and confidence on her part. Only plus point for her is that she is a female candidate and luckily she also belongs
to Newari ethnic community.
Suman Sayami
Mr
Sayami is the heritage campaigner and ethnic right activist working in
preserving the Newari guthi culture and is known for the protest against
dilapidation of houses in the name of development. He seems to gather few
thousands of votes from the pockets of CPN UML and Nepali Congress because he
has proven abilities for defending Kathmandu's citizens and is also from the proper Newar
Community. Do I have to remind that Caste, Gender and Widowhood cards are very
crucial in Nepalese politics? When he cuts back the votes of CPN and NC, then
it might be the advantage for Balen and Samikshya Devkota.
If some of the voter list from Kathmandu are not yet convinced to Vote Balen , please watch this interview once.
Is Balendra Shah from the Madhesi community?
Even though Balendra Shah was born in Naradevi Kathmandu, he belongs to the Madheshi Shah family. He is not from the Thakuri Shah clans like Gyanendra Shah and late Birendra Shah. People from his kinship live in Mahottari District which now belongs to the ward number two of Ekdara rural municipality. His father Ram Narayan Shah came to Kathmandu in early 1980s (46 years back). He studied Ayurveda and got a governmental job in Ayurveda Aushadhalaya. Later he got married in Kathmandu and bore two sons: Kaushalendra Shah (elder) and Balendra Shah (younger). His surname spurred a controversy among the political opponents stating he defrauded the Madhesi voters by masquerading as "Shah" (शाह) which means a person from Thakuri family. Note that the people from Madhesi origin write their surname as "Sah" (साह ).
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| This is Balen's Shah home in Ekdara Rural Municipality, Mahottari, which is now housing as the ward office of ward number 2. |
Why Kathmanduites voted him?
1. He is showing us hope for small but doable changes
2. Look at his marketing skill- He has utilized mass media so optimal to share his vision. Look how famous not only him but his idea have become in this short period. Isn't this a sign of efficiency?
3. He openly comes in front of people, talks, debates and convinces while other party candidates just carry their party flag, carry speaker and shout "vote k ma yo party ma". Easy way out!
4. Why would i just vote for your "ghar-dailo" abhiyaan. I want to hear your commitment and how strongly you stand for it. I want to hear you speak, debate and convince.
5. He meets the expert from the sector and gets idea from them to make a realistic impact.
6. He is not only youth but has young ideas and an well educated Engineer and a contractor who knows how development is planned and executed.
7. I am a big fan of Chiribabu Maharjan, and I believe Balen is another copy of him promising small and believable changes.
Want to read more about Balen? Click Below:
Balen's Got Challenges
#voteforbalenshah #voteforlauro 🏑
Last Updated: 12 March 2026
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